A children’s home in Salford has been rated ‘inadequate’ in all areas by Ofsted after inspectors found ‘serious and widespread failures’ that meant children were not protected. The facility, run by Cambian Childcare Limited, fell from an ‘outstanding’ rating, with inspectors finding ‘the experiences of children and young people are poor and they are not making progress’.
Failures identified by inspectors
Problems identified include staff not looking for children when they go missing from the home, ‘not being vigilant’ when managing risks around substance misuse, and not having full risk assessments and quality control documentation.
One child was moved out of the home ‘after only living there for a short period of time’ due to ‘an escalation of concerns, with staff unable to keep the child safe’, a report said. That led to further ‘distress and instability’ for the child.
Staffing and leadership concerns
The report pointed to staffing as a potential cause of the problems. Inspector Michelle Snape said: “Children who have lived in the home have not been cared for by a consistent staff team. Five staff have left since the last inspection and staff from the manager’s other home have been supporting the children. This does not help children to build meaningful and trusted relationships.”
She also found significant leadership problems, and that with the exception of the manager, no staff held relevant qualifications for looking after kids in care.
Positive aspects and response
The home, which looks after a maximum of two kids who may experience social and emotional difficulties, was praised for supporting youngsters to attend school and medical appointments, as well as taking part in extracurricular activities such as boxing.
A spokesperson for Cambian Childcare Limited said: “Concerns in the home were caused by significant management and staff team changes. These have been addressed, Ofsted have now reinspected this home which has now been upgraded, we await the publication of this new report. The home is now operating at a standard we would expect.”
